Labyrinths, flying fish, and trolls

Thursday, 23 July, 2015

Seattle, WA

Today Randy's friend Heather and her husband and daughter Aubrietta took us to show us Seattle.  They picked us up and we headed downtown.  When we arrived there, Heather dropped all of us off and Lawrence took us on the monorail to Seattle Place.  Both are from the Seattle World's Fair in 1962, as is the space needle.  We decided not to go up in the space needle, both because we didn't really care if we did and because it is really expensive.  Joshua just wanted to see it up close and get a model of it in the gift shop to add to his collection.

We saw this on the way to the monorail.  It is water falling in two sheets and you can
walk on a sidewalk in the middle (and only get a little wet).

The Space Needle

 Then there was a park on the other side of Seattle Center (which was filled with artists, booths, and shops).  It was called Artists at Play, Seattle Center Playground.  A very cool, arty playground.

This is the Experience Music Project (EMP) building.

This is a rebus at the center of the labyrinth

A musical toy

You pull on the pool ball and let it bounce back to a pipe

The labyrinth

A swingset

There were short 3 sentence stories by children with their names and ages (mostly aged 5-7)
and brass pictures of the stories, drawn by the children.

A story of the Parasaurolophus and how they
discovered why he had the horn on his head.

The first sentence of one of the stories.

The drawing that accompanied it.

Large flowers

Public art

Our group:  me, Joshua, Randy, Shelby, Lawrence, Abrietta, Heather

Then we drove to the Museum of History and Innovation.  It was a very interactive museum about the history of Seattle.  It is very well done and interesting.  It is in South Lincoln Union park.  Interestingly, there is a tram that stops there.  The locals call it the South Lincoln Union Tram--they ride the SLUT (their word, not mine!)

The lobby of the museum

The lobby

 

Then we were on to Pike Place Market.  We stopped in a Beecher's, a well-known cheese shop to grab lunch (Heather and I had grilled cheese, Randy and Aubrietta had mac 'n' cheese, and Shelby and Joshua had huge baguettes--soft and herby (Lawrence was parking the car).   

He looked so much like a real statue!

The Original Starbucks (almost called Chart House)

The line at Starbuck's

Shelby trying some honey

Flowers were everywhere--it smelled so good!

The well-known Flying Fish
(look carefully--it's in the middle of the photo by the lights)

Next, we drove to a beach on the Puget Sound.

Kite-flying on the beach

We saw a submarine in the Sound! 

Then we drove in an area called Fremont which is very well-off and, according to our friends, very "hippie."  There is a lot of public art--one of them being a troll under the bridge.

This is a real bridge in the troll's hand that the artists covered up.

Shelby and Aubrietta have triumphed over the troll!
(His eye appears to be a hubcap)

Joshua is on his head

Next, we went to Iver's, a seafood place, for dinner.  The food was good, but very expensive (at least compared to places we usually eat).  They brought cornbread with lavender butter (yum).   

Then we went to another creative playground at another park.

We are grateful to our friends for showing us parts of Seattle that we wouldn't have seen otherwise!! Busy day, but we had a lot of fun!   We had a great time and are headed West tomorrow.